The Danger Days of Our Lives

3- Bulletproof Heart

I blew a strand of annoying hair out of my face. Why'd I of all people get stuck with the job of watching the car. "No fair," I murmured. My eyes drifted over to the right to see if the four were still in sight. They weren't. All I saw was golden sand and sun-dried shrubs, along with light footsteps from the guys. 

My chest heaved out an over-dramatic sigh as I focused on the cloudless cerulean sky. 

"Mel, you can't just leave,"

"I have to. I, unlike you, Mom, and Dad, don't give up that easily. I'm gonna stay alive or fight trying."

I shook my head, attempting to get rid of that horrid memory. In a jiff I noticed that my breathing became staggered, as if that reminder turned into a nightmare. "You're just hallucinating. Breathe, Melanie. Breathe," I coaxed.

"We're trying, too," he cried, tears streaming down his face.

"No. No you're not. You've already accepted the fact that those bastards are going to kill you and that there's no hope."

"Mel.."

"Hope you're happy with dying," I called out, walking into the darkness, away from the house I once called home.

Before I knew it, a burning sensation pricked the back of my eyes and my cheeks were burning up. "You're an idiot!" I scolded myself as I rubbed my eyes to prevent them from crying. I gulped in a breath of air and opened the door of the convertible, stepping outside into the scorching heat. Go find them, I thought. Go find Gerard.

I walked slowly, making sure I didn't accidentally get rid of the already faded tracks. After a few minutes of following footsteps, a piece of paper caught my attention. "What? A newspaper out here?" I questioned, double checking to make sure it wasn't a trap. My fingers reached out to grab it after . The small print read something about the kids who've gone missing after this whole mess happened. I flipped it over to find pictures of the kids with a little caption under them from their families. "Wow, how pathetic," I mocked, still glancing absentmindedly at the photographs. But then a certain one, made my heart stop.

On the far left hand corner was an old picture of me playing around in the yard, way before any shit happened. Underneath it in barely seen typing were the words: "Melanie, come back home." 

I crumbled up the fragile paper and tossed it as far as I could throw it. A bitter taste made its way to my mouth as I spat profanities into the atmosphere around me. "THEY KNOW THAT I HATE IT THERE. WHY DO THE WANT ME BACK?!"

"Mel?" a familiar voice squeaked.

I turned around with rage-filled eyes only to find myself staring at a bewildered Gerard. Immediately, my eyes softened and darted down to my shoes embarrassingly from the thought of him listening to me. "Um, d-did you hear all that?"

Footsteps made their way over to me and before I knew it, I was being embraced by Gerard, the leader of the Killjoys, the one who supposedly shouldn't have emotions. He didn't have to say anything, I knew he heard everything. I hugged him back and buried my face in his blue jacket. Gerard reminded me so much of home but I couldn't long for a place that made me helpless. 

After a few seconds, he let me go, delicately bringing my face up to look at him. "Are you okay now?" 

I nodded and politely took his hands off my cheeks. "We should probably get to the others," I reminded him and myself, just so I wouldn't get carried away in the moment. "So, lead the way, since you know where they are."

Gerard sighed softly and began walking from the direction he came from, with me right next to him following. Every so often, I peeped a look to my left to see if the red head was alright but only saw him staring straight ahead. Something's off with him, I whispered to myself. I was about to open my mouth to talk but instead got cut off.

"Look out," Gerard called out blandly.

"What?" I said, baffled a bit before getting knocked to the ground by someone, the person then falling on top of me. "What the hell?"

I looked up into hazel eyes and rumpled jet-black hair. "Hiya there!" Frank bubbled as he propped himself up from the fall. "Well, what brings you here on this fine day out here in the Zones?"

"Get the fuck off me, Frank. Now." I gave him exactly a second to move, hoping he would, but this is the infamous Frank Iero we're talking about, he wouldn't listen to anything that was said the first time. He stayed exactly where he was, causing me to knee his stomach somewhat lightly just to get him off. While he rolled off, I got myself back up and dusted off any remaining sand from my purple jacket. 

From a few feet away from me, I saw Gerard staring impatiently at the two of us. "Can ya quit this little reunion so we can at least have a better plan to kill the Draculoids that are less than a quarter of a mile away from us?" 

"Sorry," I replied sheepishly, walking toward Gerard and Mikey and Ray, who had just appeared. Frank followed and went back to normal as if nothing had happened. Soon, we picked a spot around a low lying tree and discussed the attack plan there.

-

I was left to hide. Alone. While the others sneaked behind the van the Draculoids used. "Jeez, Melanie," I complained. "You can't sit around and be useless again, so go help them!" A sigh left my mouth, I was right, I couldn't just let myself repeat everything I did before I joined the Killjoys. 

With a little hesitation, I got up and began walking towards the van. 

Well, that was until I heard laser shots and cries of pain from voices that sounded too familiar. 

Immediately, I ran with all my might towards the scene of the battle that was happening. From my view, I  could clearly see Mikey attempting to protect the wounded three who were struggling to aim their guns at the 6 Draculoids surrounding them. Within a millisecond, they shot straight at Mikey's left shoulder, causing him to fall down, clutching the fresh wound. 

As the Draculoids pointed their guns at the four, I withdrew my laser gun and shot at their heads, missing most of the attempts to kill them. But I hit one of the 6, causing him to fall on the sand. They looked straight at me walking towards them and aimed their guns right at me, the one who killed their fellow comrade. 

Now that I had their attention, I prayed that one of the four on the floor had any strength to shoot them from behind. I kept shooting at them, thinking I'd kill them off alone. Then, one of the Draculoids' laser pierced my right side. I yelped in pain, dropping my laser gun and kneeling on the desert floor. That's it, I thought. I'm dead. I shut my eyes tightly and prepared for the worst.

I heard a "Melanie!" and more laser shots ringing before I opened my eyes. In front of me was an outstretched hand belonging to Ray, which I immediately took. He held me up, making sure I didn't hurt myself more, but as soon as my eyes landed on Mikey, I ran over to him.

"Mikey! Oh jeez, is he okay?" I turned over to Frank, who was watching Gerard dab a cloth at his younger brother's wounds.

"He lost quite a lot of blood," Gerard replied. "But we have to take him back to the car, as soon as possible. Can you guys help me get him up?" 

I nodded and walked over to Mikey, along with Ray and Frank. Gerard carefully got him up and slung Mikey's right arm over his neck to support him while Ray wrapped an arm around Mikey's waist so he avoids anything else that could hurt him on the way back. Frank walked with me, just in case the wound on my right side started hurting again.

"Even though we won this battle," I mumbled to Frank, staring at the sun setting over the horizon. "It feels like this was our biggest lost."

"Agreed." And with that, we continued our walk back to the car.